Following this cry, Li Yingjie's team and those Central Scout Academy students whose fists were already itching for a fight leapt forwards, rounding up all ten or so students of the other group. The cafeteria became a complete mess, the group fight kicking off just like that.
Qi Long stared dumbfounded at the scene before him, mumbling to himself, "They really began fighting?" Truthfully, he had actually thought this conflict would be peacefully resolved.
Ling Lan rubbed her brow helplessly, her head beginning to ache slightly. This Li Yingjie was truly hard to control once his arrogance was in full swing ... Still, this was good too. At least some of the new cadets who had been thinking of trying something against them would now think twice before bothering them.
"Wu Jiong, go and check in on Li Yingjie. Don't let him take things too far!" Ling Lan was worried that Li Yingjie would not be able to stop once his temper was running high, so she sent Wu Jiong off to wrap things up. Compared to Qi Long and the others, Wu Jiong had a better relationship with Li Yingjie.
Wu Jiong nodded to show he understood. However, what Ling Lan was worried about did not occur — Li Yingjie still remembered Ling Lan's instructions and was careful not to inflict any life-threatening injuries. Even so, Wu Yong and his party of about ten people all received heavy internal injuries. In the end, they had to be carted up to the starship headed for the First Men's Military Academy by the soldiers at the fortress, hence becoming one of the running jokes at the military academy.This made those students bear a terrible grudge against the students from Doha. In the end, they even joined forces with those who opposed the Doha faction, adding a considerable amount of obstruction for Li Yingjie and the others. Of course, this would all take place in the future, so we won't talk about it here for now.
This scene was taken in fully by the group that had been observing Ling Lan from a corner.
"Zhou Ya, looks like you were right. This year's Doha is indeed not simple. We need to watch out for this person," said Wang Hui grimly, pointing at the flamboyantly arrogant Li Yingjie at the centre of the chaos.
Zhou Ya nodded, but his gaze was directed at the table Ling Lan was at. He had seen Li Yingjie leaving from that table — then, what sort of characters were the people at the same table with him?
Zhou Ya believed that all these people were definitely not simple. He even suspected that the one who truly had the strength to rally the other talented students to his side was not actually that arrogant youth, but was likely one of the others laying low at that table ...
Zhou Ya swept his gaze across the group gathered there. He automatically skipped over Luo Lang and Ling Lan, the two weakest looking members, and his eyes landed squarely on that agreeable grinning face of Qi Long's. Was he the one? Doesn't seem like it ... or perhaps him? Xie Yi's radiantly smiling face leapt into focus ... or perhaps him? Han Jijyun's cold and stern face made Zhou Ya's irises narrow abruptly — he had sensed an invisible pressure pressing down on him ...
"Zhou Ya, are you alright?" Wang Hui saw cold sweat appear abruptly on Zhou Ya's forehead, and could not help but exclaim in surprise.Zhou Ya closed his eyes, calming himself down quickly. As if replying to Wang Hui, but also as if he were just talking to himself, he muttered, "I may have met my rival."
"What?" Zhou Ya had spoken so softly that Wang Hui had not heard him properly.
Zhou Ya smiled at Wang Hui and said, "It's nothing. Maybe I'm just too tired."
Zhou Ya's words made Wang Hui relax. Indeed, Zhou Ya had spent too much mental effort on handling things with those crew members on the ship previously. This was something that could not be helped — when one's strength was weaker than the opponent's, one could only make up for it with wit and intelligence.
Zhou Ya glanced once more at Han Jijyun and thought to himself: Is that person their strategist? He looks like a real impressive character. Zhou Ya knew very well that since they belonged to two different power factions, there would come a day when they would clash ... he rallied his spirits and his eyes lit up — he, Zhou Ya, was not someone who was afraid of challenge!
As if sensing something, Han Jijyun swept his gaze around the cafeteria, but could not pin down that sense of being watched. He silently shook his head — could it be that he was being paranoid?
********
After the fight, the cafeteria fell silent once more. As the Doha contingent was greater in number, they dominated almost a large half of the cafeteria, while the students from the other planets were spread out across the other half, staring warily at the Doha party. In the interim, several more ships had arrived one after another. Finally, when the cafeteria was almost fully packed, the students received the notification that they were about to board a new ship and begin the new leg of their journey.
Under the lead of the fortress staff, Ling Lan and the others came to the boarding point of the new spaceship. They were instantly struck dumb by the formidable appearance of this new ship. It turned out that the spaceship this time was not disguised as a commoner spacecraft, but was a genuine military vessel, a patrol ship marked by the Federation.
At the helm of the patrol ship was a powerful long-range energy cannon, laser cannons spread out threateningly all over both flanks of the ship and its stern. In addition, there were two long-range interstellar guided missiles clipped to the belly of the ship, ready to attack any enemy from afar.
The spaceship's hull was also not something those small spaceships impersonating as public spaceships could compare to. In its entirety, it was three times larger than the 7th Bugle Call. This massive military vessel lounged in the spaceport, and in comparison to all the other short and small ships around it, it seemed even more grand and majestic.
Ling Lan did not know what kind of existence an interstellar mothership was, which was larger than regular starships by tenfold, but right now, this starship before her in its full glory awed Ling Lan, who once again felt her blood boil with excitement within her.
All of the cadets boarded the ship with awe and reverence, and then received some rules they had to follow within the starship. Perhaps the new cadets had been stunned into meekness by the majesty of the military vessel, or perhaps they were still traumatised by their experiences on the previous ship, for they did not dare to irritate the soldiers on the ship, obediently waiting as instructed on the ship.
Ling Lan's party naturally did not want to cause any trouble this time; thus, the journey was smooth sailing all the way. Three days later, they successfully arrived at a mysterious and lovely planet.
Little Four had long contacted the mainframe on the military vessel in secret to find out the coordinates of their landing spot. He alerted Ling Lan to the fact that this place was yet another planet unmarked by the Federation. Ling Lan could not help but recall her first outing to planet Demonbeast and all its associated happenings. She shuddered in silence, plagued by the unshakeable feeling that something was going to happen here on this mysterious planet as well ... She could only hope her luck was better this time, allowing her to peacefully live through these six years of life at the military academy.
The starship naturally could not descend straight through the atmosphere of the planet. It hovered in the spaceport in the outer space of the planet, where the excited students then transferred to a shuttle train which brought them to their actual destination —— Military Capital!
The screens on the train explained that this planet had only one human city, and that was Military Capital. There were only two kinds of inhabitants in Military Capital — one was military academy students, while the other was military men. That's right, the instructors of the First Men's Military Academy were actually soldiers and officers from various positions within the army.
The construction of Military Capital was very beautiful. The arrangement of its buildings was set according to the ancient Bagua 1 — without the relevant map, it would be very easy to get lost in the maze of buildings. The heart of Military Capital was a flower garden plaza, which took up a vast amount of land and was also extremely beautiful. To accommodate this location, there were no tall buildings around it, with only a few non-standard small buildings nestled among the trees.
You ask where the military academy was? In fact, the entire Military Capital was the military academy! Here, all the buildings were places where the students could study, rest, entertain themselves, or shop. The facilities of Military Capital were exhaustive — anything for eating, using, wearing, and even playing could be found here — never ever giving one the feeling that they were living in an enclosed world. Furthermore, the virtual world was openly accessible to the cadets at all times to log in and out as they liked.
When Ling Lan's year of cadets stepped into Military Capital, she instantly noticed some cadets dressed in standardised uniforms staring at them strangely. Quite a number of them had even opened their communicators, as if contacting someone about their arrival. This raised Ling Lan's guard — could it be that these senior cadets wanted to show the new cadets their place?
Thinking about it, Ling Lan felt that this was a likely possibility, so she warned Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the others to be a little more careful to not get separated from the others and give the older cadets a chance to act.
It looked like the waters of the First Men's Military Academy were pretty deep ... Ling Lan notified Lin Zhong-qing and Xie Yi with a serious expression that they needed to swiftly find out more about the situation at the First Men's Military Academy, especially with regards to the various factions and their leaders.
Ling Lan thought silently: It looks like it wouldn't be as easy as she had thought to establish a foothold here in the First Men's Military Academy!
Of course, Ling Lan was not cowed by this — ever since she knew that Ling Xiao would be there behind her to support her and clean up any messes, Ling Lan had become much more daring than before.
********
In the garden of a particular villa in the 4th year dormitory district, four young men were idly playing cards.
One of them was very well-built, his strong square face filled with a fierce coldness. Even when playing cards, his demeanour was extremely serious, just as if he was currently embroiled in a huge mecha fight, filled with concentration.
Across from the well-built youth was an extremely handsome young man. However, this handsomeness was filled with a sense of perversity. Slightly narrowed eyes and a constant half-smile naturally made him ooze deviousness in others' eyes.
On the right-hand side of the youth with the devious air was an extremely plain-looking youth. However, his simple attire and appearance did not make him pale in comparison to his uniquely striking companions. It was as though he were between two sparkling diamonds, but continued to emit his unique lustre as a luminous pearl, no weaker for the difference.
Meanwhile, across from the plain youth was a young man wearing a half-mask covering the top half of his face. His soft red lips always carried a beautiful curve, and the eyes behind his mask constantly emitted a warm sense of laughter. The aura around him was warm and welcoming, making others feel like getting close involuntarily. It should be said that the one who gave others the first impression of being harmless and friendly was unquestionably this youth.
"I heard that, an aberrant talent is coming from the Central Scout Academy of Doha this year?" The devious youth flicked at the cards in his hands, sharing some rumours he had heard with an intrigued expression on his face.
"Where did you hear that from?" asked the plain youth with a quirk of his brow.
The devious youth smiled slightly, "Who else but our old rival, that Zhang Jing-an who came from the Central Scout Academy. Ever since he lost to us, he has mentioned that the strongest aberrant prodigy of the Central Scout Academy will be coming to our military academy this year. It is impossible to forget!"
The well-built youth acted as though he had heard nothing, pulling out one of the cards in his hands seriously to place it on the table, and called out, "Jack!" Then, he turned to look at the masked youth and said, "Lanfeng, it's your turn now." He was not interested in this sort of rumour — if a strong mecha fighter appeared, perhaps he might pay more attention.
The warm youth abruptly collapsed the cards in his hands, and then said with a smile, "Zhao Jun, don't rush, the card will come out eventually." He slowly pulled out a card from the closed deck in his hands, lightly placing it on the table as he asked, "Han Ye, do you know who that is?"
